JPH1040995A - Terminal fitting - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent deformation of a lance due to an excessive deflection. SOLUTION: A ceiling part 42 of a protection cover B is structured by placing one over another in a twofold manner, a lance 41 is formed by cutting out a ceiling plate 42a positioned on the upper side thereof and by raising it up, and an excessive deflection regulating piece 43 is formed by cutting out a ceiling plate 42b positioned on the lower side thereof and by raising it up. With this, the excessive deflection regulating piece 43 being disposed under the lance 41, when the lance 41 is pushed strongly by external force, the lance 41 makes hitting contact with the excessive deflection regulating piece 43 and is regulated not to deflect further.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a terminal fitting assembled to a connector.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A terminal fitting is provided with a lance for retaining the terminal fitting when the terminal fitting is assembled to a connector housing. Such a lance is formed by cutting and raising a part of the outer surface of the terminal fitting. In addition, in the case of the miniaturized terminal fitting, since the plate thickness is so thin that a sufficient locking function cannot be provided, a stainless steel protective cover is separately provided, and the outer surface of the protective cover is cut and raised. To form a lance.

[0003]

However, if the lance is simply cut and raised from the terminal fitting or the protective cover, the lance will protrude in an exposed state, and may be easily deformed by an external force or the like. Was. In particular, in the manufacturing process, it frequently occurs that the terminal fittings collide with each other or the terminal fittings are erroneously pressed against the connector housing. At this time, the lance is excessively bent and deformed. I was The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a terminal fitting capable of preventing deformation of a lance due to excessive bending.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, the terminal fitting according to the first aspect of the present invention has a lance which is locked to the housing to prevent the terminal fitting from coming off.
In the terminal fitting cut and raised from the outer side surface,
It is characterized in that an excessive bending restricting portion is provided in the bending direction of the lance and restricts the movement of the lance in the excessive bending direction.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the terminal fitting according to the first aspect, wherein the excessive bending restricting portion is formed so as to be able to bend and deform along the bending direction of the lance.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the terminal fitting of the second aspect, the terminal fitting comprises a terminal body connectable to a mating terminal fitting and a protective cover for covering at least a part of the terminal body. And one outer side surface portion of the protective cover is formed by overlapping the side plates in a double manner, and of the side plates, a lance is formed by cutting and raising a part of the side plate located outside, and the side plate located inside. Is characterized in that an excessive deflection restricting portion is formed by cutting and raising a part of the.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the excessive bending control portion for controlling the movement of the lance in the excessive bending direction is provided, even if the lance is strongly pushed by an external force, the lance is not pressed. Does not bend excessively, thereby preventing deformation of the lance due to excessive bending.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the excessive bending restricting portion is formed so as to be able to bend and deform along the bending direction of the lance. Therefore, there is a concern that the lance may be damaged or the like when the lance is pressed against the excessive deflection restricting portion with a strong force. In the present invention, in such a case, the excessive deflection restricting portion is moved in the bending direction of the lance. The lance can be deflected to soften the impact acting on the lance, so that the lance can be prevented from being damaged by the impact force.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the outer surface of the protective cover is formed by overlapping the side plates in a double manner.
The lance is formed by cutting and raising a part of the outer side plate among the side plates, and the excessive deflection restricting portion is formed by cutting and raising a part of the inner side plate. Accordingly, since the excessive deflection restricting portion is formed integrally with the protective cover together with the lance, the configuration is simplified.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of a terminal fitting according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The terminal fitting of the present embodiment is a female terminal fitting, and as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a conductive thin metal plate (for example,
A terminal body A formed by bending a copper alloy thin plate) and a stainless steel protective cover B that covers the terminal body A are provided.

The terminal body A includes an insertion portion 10 into which a male terminal metal fitting (not shown), which is a mating terminal metal fitting, is inserted, and a barrel portion 20 to which the terminal of the electric wire is caulked and connected.
Are configured in series. The barrel portion 20 is a wire barrel 2 for caulking a core wire stripped from a covering end of an electric wire.
1 and an insulation barrel 22 connected to the rear end side (the right end side in FIG. 1) of the wire barrel 21 and caulking the covering end of the electric wire. Each of the barrels 21 and 22 has a pair of caulking pieces 21a, 22a is formed to protrude upward, and the caulking pieces 21a and 22a are caulked so as to wrap the core wire or the covering end of the electric wire.

The insertion portion 10 has a cylindrical portion 11 having a square cylindrical rear end.
It is formed by extending the left and right side walls (both side walls facing each other in the width direction; upper and lower side walls in FIG. 2) of the cylindrical portion 11 forward. Thereby, the insertion portion 1
In FIG. 0, a pair of elastic contact pieces 12 are formed in front of the cylindrical portion 11, and male terminal fittings, which are mating terminal fittings, are inserted and sandwiched therebetween.

The connecting portion 30 is formed in a groove shape from the rear end of the insertion portion 10 to the front end of the barrel portion 20, and a pair of stabilizers 31 is provided on both right and left side walls so as to protrude upward.

The protective cover B is formed by bending a stainless steel thin plate into a rectangular tube shape, and its length dimension is slightly longer than the length of the insertion portion 10 and its inner diameter is the cylindrical portion 1.
1 is set slightly larger than the outer diameter. That is, the protective cover B can be fitted into the insertion section 10 from the distal end side.

As shown in FIG. 3, the ceiling portion 42 of the protective cover B is formed by superimposing thin metal sheets in a double process during bending. A lance 41 is formed by cutting and raising the lance 41 upward from the front end side (the left end side in FIG. 1) of the ceiling plate 42a which is superimposed on the ceiling portion 42.
Further, in the ceiling plate 42b of the ceiling portion 42, which is superimposed on the lower side, an excessive bending restricting piece 43 is formed by being cut and raised upward from the rear end side (the right end side in FIG. 1). Therefore,
The excessively bending restricting piece 43 is arranged under the lance 41 cut and raised in an upwardly deformable state. And, the front end of the excessive deflection restricting piece 43 is slightly curved upward,
It is set so that a slight gap is formed between the upper end of the curved portion and the lance 41. That is, in the normal state, the lance 41 is set so as not to contact the excessive bending restricting piece 43, but to contact the excessive bending restricting piece 43 when deformed downward. In addition, the position where the lance 41 abuts on the excessive flexure restricting piece 43 is considerably before the elastic limit position where the spring property of the lance 41 is impaired, and after the lance 41 comes into contact with the excessive flexure restrictive piece 43. The lance 41 is set such that the spring property of the lance 41 is not impaired even if the lance 41 flexes while pressing the excessive flexure restricting piece 43.

On the front end side of the protective cover B, an opening edge is bent inward, and an insertion opening 44 for inserting a male terminal fitting is formed therein. Further, on the rear end side of the protective cover B, a pair of fixing pieces 45 are provided on the left and right side walls so as to protrude upward.
The protective cover B is fixed by inserting the fixing piece 45 into the side wall of the connecting portion 30 from the outside while being fitted into the insertion portion 10, and then bending the fixing piece 45 inward (see FIG. 1). ).

FIG. 5 shows a state where the female terminal fitting is assembled to the connector housing 50. In this connector housing 50, cavities 51 are juxtaposed in the lateral direction (vertical direction in FIG. 5), and the female terminal fitting is provided on the rear end side (right end side in FIG. 5) of each cavity 51. A terminal assembling port 51a for assembling is provided at the front end side (FIG. 5).
A terminal insertion port 51b for inserting a male terminal fitting is provided in the middle and left ends. Further, a locking portion 52 is cut out on the outer inner wall surface in each cavity 51, and in a state where the female terminal fitting is assembled in each cavity 51, the lance 41 is engaged therewith and pulled out. It has been stopped.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described.
For example, the female terminal fitting is connected to the connector housing 50.
If the lance 41 is accidentally pressed against the bottom surface of the connector housing 50 when assembling the lance 41,
, A strong force acts on it. Therefore, the lance 41 is largely bent downward. However, in the present embodiment, the bending direction of the lance 41, ie, the lance 41
Since the excessive bending restricting piece 43 is provided on the lower side,
The bent lance 41 first comes into contact with the excessive bending restricting piece 43. Further, thereafter, it is slightly bent downward while pressing the excessive bending restricting piece 43 and stops (see FIG. 4). Therefore,
The provision of the excessive bending restricting piece 43 restricts the lance 41 from bending to the elastic limit position.

As described above, in the present embodiment, since the excessive bending restricting piece 43 for restricting the movement of the lance 41 in the excessive bending direction is provided, the lance 41 does not excessively bend due to an external force, and thus the lance 41 due to excessive bending. Can be prevented from being deformed. Further, the excessive bending restricting piece 43 is formed so as to be able to bend and deform, and after being brought into contact with the lance 41, is slightly bent, so that the impact force acting on the lance 41 can be relieved. 41
Can be avoided. In addition, lance 41
And the excessive deflection restricting piece 43 is formed by cutting and raising each of the ceiling portions 42 of the protective cover B, which is superimposed twice, so that together with the lance 41, the excessive deflection restricting piece 4
3 can be formed integrally with the protective cover B, and the configuration is simplified.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but can be modified as follows, for example, and these embodiments also belong to the technical scope of the present invention. (1) In the above embodiment, the lance 41 is the protective cover B
Although the terminal fitting is formed by cutting and raising the lance, it may be formed by cutting and raising a lance from a part of the outer surface of the terminal fitting without the protective cover.

(2) The above embodiment shows an example in which the present invention is applied to a female terminal fitting, but the present invention may be applied to a male terminal fitting.

(3) In the above embodiment, the protective cover B
Is made of stainless steel, but may be made of copper, aluminum, or the like.

(4) In the above-described embodiment, the excessive bending restricting piece 43 is cut and raised from the ceiling plate 42b and formed to be deformable. May be used.

(5) In the above embodiment, the excessive deflection restricting piece 43 is formed by cutting and raising the ceiling plate 42b, but may be formed by cutting and raising or bending on the lance side. Good.

(6) In the above embodiment, the lance 41 and the excessive deflection restricting piece 43 are set so as not to contact in the normal state. However, the lance 41 may be set so as to make contact.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing the entirety of the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing an excessive bending restricting piece in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing a state in which excessive deflection of the lance is restricted in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view showing a state in which the connector housing is assembled in the same embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 41: Lance 42: Ceiling (outer surface) 42a, 42b: Ceiling plate (side plate) 43: Excessive bending restricting piece (Excessive bending restricting part) 50: Connector housing (housing) A: Terminal body B: Protective cover

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A terminal fitting formed by cutting out and raising an outer side surface portion of a lance locked by a housing to prevent the terminal fitting from coming off. A terminal fitting provided with an excessive bending restricting portion for restricting a movement in a bending direction. 2. The terminal fitting according to claim 1, wherein said excessive bending restricting portion is formed so as to be able to bend and deform along a bending direction of said lance. 3. The terminal fitting according to claim 2, wherein said terminal fitting comprises a terminal body connectable to a counterpart terminal fitting, and a protective cover covering at least a part of said terminal body. The outer side surface is formed by overlapping side plates in a double layer, and a lance is formed by cutting and raising a part of the side plate located on the outer side of the side plate, and cutting and raising a part of the side plate located on the inner side. A terminal fitting characterized in that an excessive deflection restricting portion is formed by this.